Mounting MobileMe iDisk on Windows XP

One of the discussions on the Apple MobileMe iDisk forum is how to get iDisk mounted as a drive on Windows XP. While Apple has provided instructions on how to do this on Vista nothing was said about XP. The solution that worked for me was similar to the one that Apple provided for Vista and involves using the "Add Network Place" wizard.

mounting-idisk-on-windows-xp

If you’re using Windows XP, open the Explorer, click Computer, and then click “Map network drive” in the toolbar. Update: Apple has updated the MobileMe client for Windows. The instructions for Vista seem to work for Windows XP as well. Follow the instructions as above, enter http://idisk.me.com/[username] in the folder field, and click “Connect using a different user name.” Enter your MobileMe member name and password, and then click OK. That's it. You are done. No need to read the rest of this. Then click the link that says "Sign up for online storage or connect to a network server" to launch the "Add Network Place" wizard. Then Click OK.

Click to choose a network location and click next.

choose-a-network-location

Then type http://idisk.me.com/[username] in the folder field, and click next.

enter-idsk-info

Enter your MobileMe member name and password, and then click OK. This mounts your iDisk on your desktop, so you can work with it as you would any other hard disk.

mobileme-username-and-password1

2008-08-11_0805

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge

41 thoughts on “Mounting MobileMe iDisk on Windows XP”

  1. Thank you. The information is useful, but it did not work when I provided a known username and passowrd. It keeps repeating to provide a usermane and password.

    I called and spoke to Apple about this and they told me to try a few hours later as Apple was having a problem with their server... this was several days ago. I tried it again and the same problem occurs.

    Is there any other way to connect to the mobile me in wondows?

  2. Thanks Khurt!

    I just had to make sure when I typed in the internet or network address, I had to put another forward slash after my username.

    Cheers Mate!

  3. Thanks !
    I was looking for that tip for a long time.
    Michel (Paris, France) -who loooooves Belgian beer, subtile, flavoured coffee, photography and my daughter :))

  4. Hi, great technical help here... I have a different issue that maybe someone can help me figure out. My friend setup an idisk share on his Mac and I was using it from my PC (Windows XP Pro) without any problem about 1 12 months ago and now when I connect everything is grayed out and I can't see any of his files. I tested the connection from my wife's laptop and same problem but my friend did the same with the people he knows both from Macs & PC's and there is no problem. It seems to me like an access or more specifically some type of permissions issue so I cleared my IE Browser Cache, files, etc. and still no luck. Any ideas?

    1. Anyone here able to help Neil? I cancelled my MobileMe account as I found other ways to get similar functionality.

    2. Did you try using different browsers? MobileMe does not like IE6 and older browsers. Try it with Safari on Windows or Google Chrome.

  5. @Michael_Goode: what is the size of your windows volume? In Windows XP, the iDisk mount shows the exact same information as my C: drive in regards to Total Size and Free Space. Probably the same bug propagated into Vista.

  6. okay, when I do this it states that there is 74.5 gb of space total but only 2.93 gb available. Obviously, my idisk is not that big, nor is it that full. What is the problem? I am using it in Vista. On my mac, it displays perfectly.

  7. hey there, i tried and tried and tried over and over... but none of the suggested methods work.. in every single one xp sais "The drive could not be mapped because no network was found" the last method i tried was this: "\idisk.mac.comb.steck" in the "Map Network Drive" settings and i get the above described error msg.. any idea? im running Tiny XP... may that be the problem?

    TIA
    greetingz bl4ck

    1. I don't have Tiny XP so I can't help with that. A lot of others have got this working in various ways. I have you tried using the me.com domain instead of mac.com?

  8. This worked well for me. I had to use my entire username (including the @me.com) in the part where it first asks for your password. THANKS for this information - I'm slowly moving into cloud computing and being able to work between my PC and Macs with this!

  9. if nothing helped, try this:

    1. Start -> Run
    2. Type "cmd" then hit enter.
    3. Copy and paste the following into the command prompt:

    net use * \idisk.mac.comyourusername * /user:yourusername

    replace yourusername with your actual MobileMe user name.

    4. It will prompt you for a password, enter it in.
    5. Wait about 15-20 seconds, maybe more.
    6. It will confirm that your iDisk has been mounted and it will tell you the drive letter.
    7. You can now access you iDisk the same way the iDisk Windows XP Utility would.

  10. WIn XP: open the Explorer, and then click “Map network drive” in the toolbar. Then type http://idisk.me.com/%5BYourMemberName%5D in the folder field, and click “Connect using a different user name.” Enter your MobileMe member name and password, and then click OK. This mounts your iDisk on your desktop, so you can work with it as you would any other hard disk.

  11. If the uid/password dialogue keeps cycling, try adding a slash after your username in the iDisk URL. Worked for me.

    1. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONNECT MY MOBILE ME TO MY COMPUTER FOREVER. THIS SOLUTION WORKED!!!!!!

      1. I'm glad it worked. Unfortunately my employer uses a proxy server and the MobileMe for Windows Control Panel applet does not support proxies.

  12. Thanks for the tip! Kept me cycling in uid and password for a while but worked fine after retrying several times!

  13. Thanks fpor the tip! Kept me cycling in uid and password for a while but worked fine after retrying several times!

  14. Okay, after looking through this site I realize that me the techo peasant has stumbled onto a a very techy site. I am still amazed at how difficult it was to find, by way of search, a solution to my idisk problem. Again thanks, and if any of you need help with your log home problems I am your very experienced low tech guy!

  15. From "old school dot mac er". Dave you are a saviour! On friends pc xp because border between US / Canada scans practically all hardrives on almost all computers these days at crossings I use. Mind you I have nothing to hide but what a hassle. I have used idisk utility for years and can't live without it especially for reason stated above. Apple user since 02 and never had problems until this summer. Pretty unbelievable that Apple is deleting services, or changing how to access them with little or no warning! Hope somebody (s) gets canned for this compromising of a very esteemed company. I'm bewildered by it all!

  16. Following these steps I also go the problem where I was continually prompted for my username/password.

    Eventually I got it working by doing the following:

    1) Click on "My Computer"
    2) Click on "Map Network Drive"
    3) Click on "Connect using a different username"
    Enter your me username and password, then click 'OK'
    4) Select the Drive Letter you want to use.
    5) Enter the path \\idisk.me.com\dave.johnston
    6) Click Finish

    1. This is working fine if you take note of the following two clarifications: In point 5 you need *two* backslashs before the idisk.me.com and *one* backslash between the idisk.me.com and the username (here: dave.johnston). Also the username in point 3 must not have the @me.com part in it.

      1. THANK YOU Dave and Christoph...I'd been trying to figure this out for 2 hours. I appreciate the post!

  17. Okay, no go for me. Actually, I should clarify.

    It works with my MobileMe account, which includes a ".", but not my father's (the one using the PC), which does not have a "."

    I, too, get stuck in a uid/pass loop... ideas?

  18. Didn't work for me. Just lept cycling thru uid and password. Maybe it's me! 🙂

    1. hmmm... I can mount the iDisk on my XP Computer, and it apears normaly in the explorer as a network harddrive.... I can see all my files, but when I want to upload something or rename a folder anytime the same error appears.... that the folder I want to rename could'nt be found... has someone the same problems?

Comments are closed.